Life Moves On
by renagadeforlife
Summary: After leaving the Migrant Fleet, Tali must adjust and move on. Tali speaks with an old friend and feelings begin to erupt between herself and the man she loves.


Life Moves On

"Joker, let's get out of here", Shepard proclaimed.

"Aye, Aye Commander", replied Joker. "How did everything go?"

"I'd rather not talk about it", Tali butted in.

"Oh… ok then. Probably best that I don't know anyways."

Shepard and Tali headed for the elevator so that Dr. Chakwas could take a look at the wound Tali suffered while taking back the Alarei. She had taken some minor damage to her shoulder when a Geth sniper clipped her. Shepard suffered injuries of his own on the Alarei, but had decided it was more important to use the last Medi-gel on Tali's wound rather than his own. Shepard was in a lot of pain but he had learned how to hide it from others. He would just put some Medi-gel on it and call it a day.

While going down the elevator, Shepard broke the silence as he asked, "How's your shoulder?"

"It's fine. Probably would have been worse if you hadn't applied that Medi-gel…thank you Shepard."

"No problem Tali. I know that, with your suit, wounds can much more dangerous to your race."

The two reached deck three and walked over to the Medical Bay. They saw Chakwas sitting at her computer working on something.

"Dr. Chakwas, I know you're probably busy but Tali took some rounds on our last mission and I was hoping you could patch her up."

Dr. Chakwas turned around in her chair and replied, "Sure Commander. Go ahead Tali, lie down on the table." Tali looked nervous, but Chakwas reassured her that she was well aware of how to handle Quarians. Tali knew she could trust Chakwas and so she got up on the table. "It's nothing too critical but I should apply an extra dose of Medi-gel to sooth the wound. Also I'm going to give you some pain killers to nullify any pain you might be in."

"Thank you doctor, but are the painkillers safe for Quarians?"

"I'm insulted", she joked, "do you honestly believe I wouldn't have stocked up on Dextro-DNA medication when Garrus came aboard a few months ago?"

Tali realizing just how ridiculous her question was replied, "You're right, how silly of me." The two shared a laugh.

Then Dr. Chakwas turned to Shepard, "It's a good thing you applied some Medi-gel or else this could have been much more serious. The most she'll have to worry about now is some minor pain and probably some form of sickness due to any unsterilized materials that got into the wound."

"A fever most likely", said Tali. "But that will go away on its own so neither of you need to worry about that."

"Are you going to be alright Tali?"

"Don't worry about me Shepard. You should probably get some rest, you look exhausted."

"You're right; I'm going to go catch some shut eye. I'll check in on you later."

"Sleep tight Shepard."

He then headed up to his cabin to get some sleep. Dr. Chakwas tells her it's alright for her to head back down to Engineering if she wanted to. She decided she was going to go talk to Garrus first. They hadn't seen each other since their fight against Saren two years ago. She asked Chakwas where Garrus was and she told her that it was a safe bet he was calibrating the guns down the hall. Tali thanked her and headed for the Main Gun.

She opened the door and screamed, "Garrus!"

Shocked Garrus replied, "By the spirits, is that you Tali?"

"Of course it's me."

"Sorry I couldn't tell with the helmet."

Tali let out a chuckle, "Well I wasn't sure it was you with that crazy scar on your face."

"Hey! I hear some women like men with scars."

The two laughed. They started catching up, wondering what the other had been up to since their fight against Saren. Garrus told his story about how he got fed up with the bureaucratic bullshit at C-Sec and the Citadel. He told her the story of how he quit C-Sec and left the Citadel to become the infamous Omega mercenary, Archangel. He even shared the story of how he got that scar on his face.

"Keelah Garrus, I can't believe you survived a rocket to the face. I always knew you were tough."

"Well, I guess you could say in looking for Saren I grew tougher. Fighting the Thorian and a robotic form of Saren has a way of making you realize that dying from a rocket to the face is a weak way to go. What about you? What have you been up to?"

She told the story of returning to the Migrant Fleet after defeating Saren. That she had gained a lot of respect from it but, more importantly, gained a lot of pull among the Quarians because of the Geth data they found stopping the Geth in the Armstrong cluster. She told him how she ran into Shepard on Freedoms Progress and how Shepard saved her from a Geth attack on Haestrom.

Garrus looked at her and smirked. He then said, "Looks like Shepard had a lot to do with you becoming the big star you are now."

"Shut up", she replied sarcastically. "While it's true Shepard helped, I had gained respect on my own."

"Sure", he replied in a sarcastic tone. "So I got to ask… where were you two for the last couple hours?"

Tali, taken back by the question, went silent.

"Was it something I said?"

"I… I was charged with treason against the Fleet so we had to go there for the trial."

"What? I can't believe you'd do anything like that."

"I didn't. My father was building new Geth aboard the lab ship he was working on. He died building new Geth."

"Oh… and your father was exiled posthumously. Can't say he didn't deserve it"

Angered, she screamed, "No! I was exiled because I didn't turn in the evidence. I didn't want to see his name tarnished."

"Tali, why would you do that? The man clearly deserved to be punished."

"You don't understand. My father would have been viewed as a monster if I had let him be tried."

"Well either way, I am sorry." Garrus pulled her in and hugged her. Tali was surprised by Garrus's action. She had never seen this side of Garrus. She had always pictured him as the macho man who couldn't show emotion. She was happy to see this side of him. The tenderness of the moment died quickly as Garrus's hands were around her butt. She pushed him away.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing!"

"Oh I thought… I figured that…well this is awkward", Garrus stuttered.

"I'm sorry Garrus, you're a good friend but I don't see us being any more than friends."

"Ouch, I just friend-zoned." Garrus looked at Tali and figured out what she was thinking about. "I see how it is Tali. Don't worry I won't get in the way of you two."

Tali, blushing under her helmet, replied, "W...W...What are you talking about?"

Garrus laughed, "Don't worry about it. Can you do me a favor Tali?"

"What is it Garrus?"

"Can you tell Shepard that I'm heading for Palaven to visit my sister?"

"Umm… sure I can do that. I didn't know you had a sister Garrus."

"Most people don't", he replied sternly. "She's sick and I want to be with her for a bit. Shepard already knows I'm leaving but he just didn't know when."

"Ok Garrus, I'll tell him. Fly safe Garrus."

"Thanks, you be safe as well."

Garrus headed up to the bridge to wait for his transport to arrive. Tali headed to down the Engineering to get back to work. As she was working, all of her deep thoughts began racing through her mind. She was hit with the realization that she would never be allowed to return to the place she had called home for so many years. That she wouldn't be able to simply because she put the interests of the fleet above her own. She was angry about what her father had done but at the same time she kept telling herself that she had done the right thing. She decided to keep her mind off it and started tweaking the shields so that they could withstand a Collector attack. By the time she had finished, a few hours had passed. She was starting to feel the effects of the fever as her body heated up. She tried to work past it and mess around with the drive core. Just as she was about the work, Shepard came into the room.

"Officer on deck!", shouted Engineer Daniels.

"At ease Daniels", Shepard replied and then turned his attention to what he came down for, "Tali?"

"Yes Shepard, is there something I can help you with?"

"Do you have a moment to talk?"

"Sure just let me… come on you little bosh'tet. Sorry, I'm taking my fever out on the poor drive core."

"You alright", asked Shepard. "Did you take the medication Chakwas gave you?"

"Yeah, but that won't really help with the fever. Like I told you earlier, it's just something that will pass in a few hours. It is the way our body responds to foreign matter. Like when Navigator Pressley…what did he have chicken pox? I wouldn't get chicken pox but my body would respond to the sickness with nausea and fever.

"It must be hard. I can't imagine living my whole life in suit."

"Our lives aren't easy, but we have learned to adapt and we have learn how to handle most emergency situations."

"About what was said on the Alarei…I'm sorry. It was really insensitive of me to compare my way of living to yours."

"Don't worry about it Shepard. Not many people know how things are for us. I mean I see you humans, turians, asari, and even krogan do things that we only dream of doing."

"What do you mean?"

Tali paused for a second, and then continued, "Putting it simply, you will never see Quarians "making out". The most intimate thing we can do is link suits."

"Have you ever linked suits with another Quarian?"

Surprised by the question, Tali nervously replied, "I've never trusted anyone enough for that…well at least not any other Quarian."

"Wait a minute Tali… I can't tell because of the helmet. Are you blushing?"

"What? No, it's the fever."

Shepard could see that Tali was getting nervous and decided to let her off the hook. "I guess we can talk about this later", he joked.

"Yes, let's do that", she replied.

"I'll talk to you later Tali."

Shepard left the room and Tali was left there with her mind in a frantic panic. Was Shepard coming on to her? Or was he just messing with her? She hoped that it was flirtatious and she began feeling a tingling sensation running wild through her body.

"Hey Tali...", shouted Shepard.

Tali jumped and turned around, "Yes, Shepard?"

"Have you seen Garrus?"

"Oh right, he told me to tell you he went to Palaven to check up on his sister."

"Oh ok…thank you."

"No problem Shepard."

"Oh, and one more thing..."

"Yes?"

"I really am looking forward to finishing this conversation later." As he turned, he winked at Tali and headed back to the elevator.

Tali practically melted but gained her composure long enough to reply, "Alright Shepard, I'll work you into my schedule."

He laughed as the door closed. Tali, trying to keep herself up, turned back to the computer and went back to work. It was hard to stay focused; however, she was thinking about what Shepard had said. Now she knew for certain he was flirting with her and her body was tingling more than before. She felt like she was floating on air as she happily worked on the drive core. Her joy came to crashing halt as she heard that Cerberus Engineer, Ken, cracking a joke.

"Hey Gaby", he began. "Have you seen our new Quarian boss?"

"Hush Ken…she's right there", she replied.

"She can't hear us with her head in that bucker. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice bucket. The whole suit is nice and it is quite snug in all the right places."

Tali, enraged by his ignorance, rushed over to him with her knife in her hand. "What did you say you dirty little bosh'tet!"

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa… I was only kidding", said Ken frantically.

The other engineer, Gaby, grabbed Tali's hand. "Please, I'm sorry about Ken. He doesn't know how to keep his damn mouth shut time. I always tell him it's going to bite him in the ass one day. Just put the knife down before Shepard has to come down here."

Tali, realizing that Shepard has zero tolerance for crew on crew violence, stops and puts the knife down. "I'm sorry. It's my fever. It tends to make me a little…hasty."

Ken was about to say something, but decided it might be in his best interest to shut the hell up. He instead apologizes for his remarks and asks that they make it seem this little incident never happened. She forgives him and they continue on with their work.

After a half-hour or so, Joker came on over the intercom, "We are about to travel through a mass relay so I suggest to all crew members who aren't fans of being lashed around to strap in." Joker counted down preparing the crew for the initial shock and then a massive pull hit the ship. It was over as quick as it had started.

"Man, I never get use to that", Ken complained.

"You are an engineer for a space cruiser and you can't even handle a mass relay jump. You're such a wuss", teased Gaby.

Tali let out a chuckle and decided to head up to the bridge to see what was going on. When she reached deck two, she saw Shepard in his armor. Standing next to him was Miranda, the Cerberus operative she met on Freedoms Progress, and the other was some Salarian. She charged over to Shepard and asked what was going on.

"The Illusive Man told us that there is a Collector ship floating around and I need to see if there is any data aboard on how to travel through the Omega-4 Relay", Shepard explained.

"Should I come with you?", asked Tali.

"No, I want you to stay on the ship. I don't want anything happening to you right after the wounds you sustained on the Alarei."

"But Shepard…"

"Please Tali. I need you here in case something goes wrong and I'm going to need you watching our shields."

Stunned, Tali was speechless for a moment.

"I'm sorry Tali. Please don't take this the wrong way. I just want to make sure your wounds are fully healed and you're in good health before I take you back out in the field. I don't know what is going to be on this ship and I can't risk your health."

"… I understand Shepard. Just be safe out there ok."

"Don't worry about me Tali. I'll be back before you know it and then", he paused, pulled Tali close and said, "we can finish talking about linking suits."

Tali was definitely blushing under her suit and she barely could contain her excitement. Shepard put on his helmet and headed down to the shuttle bay. It was almost unnoticeable, but Tali looked at Shepard and just as the doors closed, he winked again.

"Sneaky little bosh'tet", said Tali. She was feeling the butterflies again, but they soon died down as she saw the shuttle fading away into the dark void of space. She was going to get back to work, but then her stomach growled at her. She hadn't been eating as much as she should have and decided now was as good a time as any to go grab a bite to eat. All she could do now was wait for Shepard to come back home.


End file.
